42,600 litres of lahan seized in 2 days; two held, several booked

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 23

Eleven persons and several unidentified people, have been booked for the preparation of lahan, raw material for preparing countrymade spurious liquor, 42,600 litres of which have been found being prepared in ditches across the Mand area on the banks of the Sutlej in the past two days.

After four persons were booked for the preparation of 6,000 litres of spurious liquor at Boote Dian Channa village in Mehatpur yesterday, the Jalandhar rural police have booked seven persons for the preparation of illegal countrymade liquor at Bhode village today.

SSP (rural) Navjot Singh Mahal said of the seven booked today, two had been arrested while the rest were at large.

The persons booked today include Pritam Singh, Chaman, alias Chamani, Bitttu, Shinda, Harjinder Singh alias Kaka, residents of Bhode village, and Baljinder Singh, alias Binder, a resident of Sudhara village, and Malkiat Singh, alias Ganja, a resident of Burj Husan village, and other unidentified persons, who had been preparing illegal liquor at the Bhode village on the banks of the Sutlej.

During the raid today, Excise Department officials Devinder Singh Pannu, along with officials of the Income Tax Department, and a police team from the Bilga police station raided the village and recovered 36,600 litres of lahan along with eight litres of illegal liquor, eight drums and two plastic pipes. The recovered lahan was destroyed on the spot. A case under Sections 61, 1 and 4 of the Excise Act was registered against the suspects.

Plastic drums were found hidden in ditches that were covered with tarpaulin. Makeshift ovens were also made to store liquor.